Elon Musk’s DOGE orders cuts to AmeriCorps grants by nearly $400 million
Washington, DC: According to three people familiar with the matter who asked not to be named, the US Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), led by billionaire businessman Elon Musk, has ordered AmeriCorps to reduce grants by almost USD 400 million, or roughly 41% of the agency’s overall grant funding, The Washington Post reported.
AmeriCorps is the government organization responsible for volunteering and national service. Each year, organizations enroll over two million people to work for them. President Bill Clinton founded it in 1993 and renamed it Volunteers in Service to America (VISTA), an anti-poverty initiative started by President Lyndon B. Johnson in 1965.
According to the sources, this action will affect around 32,465 AmeriCorps members and senior volunteers as well as 1,031 organizations. The fiscal year 2025 budget for AmeriCorps is around $1 billion USD.
On Friday, recipients started receiving notices of grant termination. Their award “no longer effectuates agency priorities,” recipients were informed, according to notifications examined by The Washington Post.
In the meanwhile, California Governor Gavin Newsom released a statement on Friday after the state’s notification from the federal government that its AmeriCorps funding programs would be ending.
Governor Newsom declared last week that California will both fight the unlawful action in court and increase recruitment for the California Service Corps program, which is already the largest service corps in the country and has surpassed the Peace Corps in size, as the Trump Administration dismantles the AmeriCorps service program.
Earlier this year, AmeriCorps members were on the ground in Los Angeles, helping families and delivering supplies after the terrible fires. The agency’s closure hampered these activities, the statement said.
The changes also disappointed Senator Bill Cassidy (R-Louisiana), who said that although he is in favor of “eliminating waste,” he would not support reducing AmeriCorps payments.
“I am receiving multiple reports that DOGE RIFs at @AmeriCorps are being extended to the cancellation of Congressionally appropriated grants,” Cassidy said in a post on X on Saturday.
attempting to verify or refute these claims by obtaining further information from DOGE/OMB. “I would have to object to cutting AmeriCorps grants like those that support Louisiana’s veterans and organizations that provide crucial support after hurricanes and natural disasters, even though I support increasing efficiency and removing waste.”
